Yama Rising

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

The youthful Qin Ye was born almost a century ago, but thanks to immortality granted to him by the ‘fungus of aeons’ he can pass for a high schooler.

He planned to live an eternal, reclusive life as a happy otaku, enjoying World of Warcraft and his favorite MOBA games, but Fate had other plans in store.

Hell has broken down, and vengeful revenants stalk the mortal realms. With ghosts running amok throughout all of Cathay, Qin Ye must reluctantly adopt the mantle of ‘hero’ and bring peace to both the living and the dead, while rebuilding Hell.

But this, of course, isn’t something a mere Netherworld Operative can do. For that, he’ll need to become more.

King Yama is dead. Long live King Yama!

Associated Names
One entry per line
我要做阎罗
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Night’s Nomenclature (2)
Hail the King (1)
Necropolis Immortal (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels that I have read 2
  2. Peak Fiction
  3. No Romance or Harem, We want Quality Stories
  4. Novels read ranking
  5. Everything That I've Tried

Latest Release

Date Group Release
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c20
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c19
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c18
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c17
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c16
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c15
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c14
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c13
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c12
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c11
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c10
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c9
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c8
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c7
08/16/20 Wuxiaworld c6
Go to Page...
Go to Page...
Write a Review
15 Reviews sorted by


MyRAMEN
New MyRAMEN rated it
March 5, 2024
Status: c5
It was good and interesting until the plot twist happened. Then the plot writing became bad... the MC also had a dramatic personality change. I decided to drop it the moment the MC went on for a huge paragraph of scientific bullsh*t reasons to tell a ghost that's keeping watch on him why he could see her.

Just read my house of horrors, haven't seem a horror novel better than that yet on this site.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Stop staring at my username
Stop staring at my username rated it
June 24, 2021
Status: c350
I give it three stars even though it's good.

A well thought out novel written by an author who is detailed and has done much research. The characters written are fleshed out and you can see how they grow. People that prefer fast power ups or overpowered main characters may not like this novel.

... more>>
Spoiler

At the beginning of the story, Qin Ye is someone who spends his time in the shadows due to his immortality, he does not cultivate much; staying lowkey helped him survive. You can see that he is smart and a little crafty. As the story progresses, he starts running away less and choosing to face things head on due to his feelings of belonging to hell and its citizens.

The author also pays attention to details that most novels might gloss over in kingdom building, for example, when Qin Ye had to start circulating money in hell, his team had no knowledge about the type of special paper needed so that the notes won't get worn out from so many people touching them. Other novels might talk about anti-forging methods but I think not many mention the type of paper used to print money, which are national secrets.

The main character is relatable in the sense that he is not overpowered/ all-knowing, for example, he was unable to draft out city plans because it is so complicated (building structure, roads, electricity lines, sewage system etc) and needed the help of professionals. The villains are also fleshed out with their own goals and motives.

[collapse]

However, despite all the positive things I've said about this novel, what took away the two stars are the nationalistic sentiments, especially since they were directed at current world events. While I've read quite a number of Chinese and Korean novels with nationalism, they generally do not affect my overall enjoyment of the novel. Not for this novel though. In most novels, nationalism is expressed in made up events, historical events or as a short part of the story. This gives me a sense of disconnect so that I am able to gloss over the nationalism. However, in this novel, it is expressed in relation to current events and furthermore, as an integral part of the plot. This makes it hard for me to brush it aside and treat it as just a fantasy novel.

Honestly, I'm not sure how many readers are aware that the things happening in the story are referring to Chinese foreign and political affairs in reality. Maybe the author was trying to be relatable by using current affairs as he did for celebrities and entertainment but his take on them, especially later into the novel is heavily subjective.

Spoiler

In the beginning, as other reviews have already mentioned, there is emphasis on China's hell being the best. I think it's quite normal for authors to want their countries to be the best (seen in many Korean novels) so I'm fine with that. Wanting to conquer Japan can be attributed to past grudges from the Japanese occupation.

However, as we progress further into the novel it becomes obvious that the author was constantly taking jabs at current events. Examples: Taiwan's hell is mentioned as resisting reunification and spending on the military, referring to their current conflict with the mainland. Then there was a line: [For instance, whenever Usonia wanted to secure a greater measure of benefit for themselves, they would always fire off a round of sanctions and brandish their military might to the world....]
This is obviously talking about the US sanctions in the US-China trade war which was actually also mentioned in the novel. However, these were usually one-liners across every couple of chapters so I overlooked it.

The last straw was the feudal lords arc, an important part of the novel's plot, alluding to the South and East China Seas conflict. In general, the ones who oppose Qin Ye, 'ingrates', are the countries disputing the seas or having tensions with China (Korea, some SEA states etc), the neutral, 'opportunists', feudal lords are the countries who are mediators with neutral stances in the actual conflicts (Singapore and Malaysia) and then the rest who side with him are China's political allies (eg Laos supported China's HK security law). At this point of time, I realised that this was way too much of a coincidence and it seems like the author has purposely grouped them this way.

[collapse]

It makes me very uncomfortable reading what I thought was a fantasy novel referencing so much of today's events. It feels like the novel has become more like a platform for the author to express his nationalistic views and I have to take in all of that without the sense of disconnect if the events were made up.

Spoiler

Like, what Qin Ye feels about the different feudal lords would have originally just been how the MC views people who oppose him (which I would be totally fine with) but now all I see is a biased view of countries not supporting China in the South and East China Seas disputes.

[collapse]

This makes me conflicted about whether I should continue reading the novel. This is a really long rant because I think it's such a pity; I really like the personality of the protagonist, the flow of the story, and how well the author manages to combine aspects of reality and cultivation... However, if you can take the nationalism, this novel is definitely worth a try. <<less
25 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Reise
Reise rated it
August 20, 2020
Status: c60
A really good novel that successfully combines its horror elements with its cultivation aspects. The author is clearly ambitious when he planned the story as you can see the grand scale of the world and its plot.

The novel is unpredictable and the author doesn’t shy on the idea of killing off the characters that appear in the novel. Characters are not some arrogant young masters whose sole purpose is to piss off MC. Here we have genuine characters with their own goals and ambitions. They are not s*upid and can... more>> see the gist of things.

Author also references lots of famous games, anime and some movies in the novel. Translation quality is assured as it is translated by WuxiaWorld and most translators there really studies the novel and its references and explain it to us in their notes.

MC is not over powered. Here we have an MC that uses his brain and clearly knows his limits. Just by reading the novel, you get the sense of how hard the MC’s mission is and cant help but wonder just how on earth is he even going to accomplish that.

Overall the potential of the novel is really great and hope that the author would be able to pull off his ambition for this novel! <<less
24 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Lachaize
Lachaize
November 12, 2020
Status: c225
The world building is excellent
Comedy is gold.
You either hate or like the character of the MC. Personally, I love him. He's refreshing compared to the standard "hardworking" 2D CN MC

Character development is gradual and it takes time for the MC to accept his role. I fully understand given the difficulty of the task...

The MC isn't a coward but pragmatic. He lived for a long time so if you wanna read about a hot blooded protagonist who face slap everyone, go check elsewhere.

Anyway, the only... more>> complaint I have is how there is a little bit of nationalism even in hell lmao

Like Cathay's (aka China) hell is the best underworld in the world

On what basis? Because they have the biggest population? What about India...

Anyway I don't see any good reason.

Spoiler

the MC thinks that emissaries of hell of other countries trying to steal talents from Cathay's underworld deserve death but I honestly don't think he would be against stealing THEIR talents for his hell

[collapse]
<<less
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ahumbleshopkeeper
ahumbleshopkeeper rated it
January 4, 2022
Status: --
The intricate worldbuilding hooked me in and kept me invested for a while, enough to ignore Yama Rising's many faults even as red flags kept piling up. However, this novel has broken me.

I just barely managed to look past

... more>>
Spoiler

one of the main female characters being turned into a s*x doll, which was a Herculean effort, mind you

[collapse]

Because obviously the author has trouble writing and respecting his own female characters. I knew this pretty early on. It's a common problem with male writers (and plenty of female writers), so honestly, despite it being a pet peeve, I usually ignore it if the story is entertaining enough to make up for it. Especially if there is no romance, so I am not expected to care about these poorly written women.

Yama Rising achieved this by the skin of its teeth, but unfortunately, it couldn't last.

If you're not going to respect your female characters, then you at least have to let your main character be Cool. Not always! He's not that kind of protagonist. This isn't that kind of story.

... But never?

I dropped this like it was hot the moment the MC

Spoiler

got defeated in one punch after finally establishing some credibility and gaining some recognition.

[collapse]

If MC is going to be made a laughing stock 99% of the story, then it's not for me. The Cool Factor is pretty much the only thing giving me any semblance of joy in novels like this, and Yama Rising refuses to deliver. This is a juvenile reason to dislike a novel, I'm well aware. You don't have to agree with me. I'm being unreasonable. I'm just hurting YR the way it hurt me.

Spoiler

A s*x doll. I made myself ignore the s*x doll only to get slapped in the face for my naïveté, my childish hope, my belief in there being some good in this cruel world.

Et tu, Yama Rising?

[collapse]
<<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
SayMrrp
SayMrrp rated it
February 18, 2021
Status: c744
Chapter 41 Review
I like this a lot! The worldbuilding is interesting, and I like how the author started the story. It's a rather fresh start. That said, it can be a little confusing at times. The novel's certainly got its own feeling though.

I like how the MC even acknowledges that he has different parts of himself. The MC's a pretty good one, I think. Not s*upid, but also has guts despite being very pragmatic. Also, great character development!

Overall, a very interesting and good start and a great world to... more>> explore.

Chapter 366 Review
Wow, this is absolutely underrated. This novel is definitely one of the best on WW right now.
*cough* At least in my opinion.

Sure there are small flaws, but the author's worldbuilding and attention to detail is incredible. The world's really unique. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about the world and the MC.

The MC's a complex character. He can be a bit cowardly at times, but deservedly since he's the underdog. If you ever get annoyed at how lame the MC is, just wait for character development. Sure, we get to learn more about MC's past and that lets us know more about him, but there is character development happening in the novel's present. Good character development.

The characters in the novel are great! Sure, you might be annoyed by some of them, but.... really in the important moments they come through. The author isn't afraid to kill off some people too; I cried when someone died. Also, the non-Chinese characters aren't disrespected that much. The author butchers some languages, I think, but nothing has been overtly racist.

Romance is hinted? But it's too early to tell if there's going to be anything.

Overall, 360 chapters might not seem that much, but the content conveyed in these chapter makes it feel like I've read 500 chapters. I really like this novel because it's unpredictable. The MC's strengths are slowly revealed, and the hype moments are really epic. The slow-build up to the explosion... noice. This novel is also pretty varied. It doesn't make you feel bored because there's something unexpected and interesting that pops up.

If you like worldbuilding/kingdom building and complex set of characters, try it! Also, the horror aspect isn't always present, so don't feel too scared if you're bad with horror (like me). There is quite a bit of killing though... :D

Ch. 744 Review
Still one of my WuxiaWorld faves! It's truly kingdom building at this point though, so if you're not a fan of that... try it maybe? The author is an expert at building hype, and there hasn't been a boring arc for me yet. Quite a bit of politics, but it's balanced by battles/other things. Also, the mental battles are pretty entertaining.

My current criticism: the way the author depicts women isn't the best? There hasn't been a lot of romance (would say almost none so far), but sometimes you can tell the author isn't fair to women lol Some generic female unnamed side characters were characterized as : "OMG MAKEUP ACCESSORIES FASHION GIMME." I feel like the author just doesn't know how to write female characters lol The two main female characters aren't written as well compared to the dudes. The MC's character/character development is superb though.

Also, people have dropped the novel due to nationalism, but I don't think it's that exaggerated. There is conflict with other countries (meaning you'd obviously support your own), but they've been treated just as defeated enemies, not ignorant barbarians or anything. I'd say this is a novel about the MC building his supernatural kingdom, meaning that nationalism is obviously included. Just the MC reigning supreme over the world as usual XD <<less
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
greenHills
greenHills rated it
July 5, 2022
Status: c700
Was at around ch700, haven't finished due to lacking time lately. This story's plot does drag on a little, but I'm surprised the NU rating is so low. I'd give it a ~3.8 rounded to 4 because the kingdom building part is genuinely interesting, and I like the mechanics of it. The comedy is also decent enough, and not a bore to read.

I saw some reviewers complaining about Cathay being great, and so I'm going to answer this Q: why is Cathay the best?

A: because the MC is from it,... more>> and MC stands for Main Character.

If this book was written in America or in India, perhaps the American hell or the Indian hell would be the best or most culturally dominant, because their character would be the Main Character. Alas! This book was written in neither America nor India.

(When I read SSS-Class su*cide Hunter or SCOG or ORV, I don't complain that almost all the world's talents are Koreans. When I read Snow Crash, I don't complain that half the world's events are centered in Los Angeles, nor do I complain about the global dominance of American/British culture in The Diamond Age. I don't read Neuromancer and complain that the Sprawl is basically just East Coast USA. This is common sense, hey.)

The other thing I'm curious about is how some commenters here expect kingdom building as a genre to work without nationalism. This is a kingdom building novel, with each hell mostly being independents, not a novel where there's some outside force threatening to destroy the world (up to where I've read, anyway). With no real extraterrestrial threats promoting world harmony, once intracountry strife peters out or is generally dealt with, the next move is naturally to take a step outside of the borders. There simply isn't a motive for all the hells to start going for co-op play instead of PVP. If you expect everyone to be holding hands and in the great circle of harmony, maybe competitive kingdom building isn't the genre for you.

When you fight on the scale of nations, you'd have to be mad to not expect nationalism. Criticising this is 1. Not thinking at all, and 2. It's pretentiously hypocritical to expect nation-building without nationalism. What, are all real-world nations perfect, objective, propaganda-free harbingers of justice that abhor war and never engage in border conflicts? Crack open a book already.

Of course the MC doesn't want China's underworld's talents to be poached, and, on the other hand, of course I wouldn't be surprised if MC is down to poach other underworld's talents. Why?

Would you rather give up your own useful pawns, or collect freebies from others? It's a no-brainer, right? MC's goal isn't to be the most objective judge of fairness and goodness; his goal is to make his personal hell great. An objective, 'fair', saintly-pure view that does harm to his own country is harming his own goals.

Every country considers itself first, and naturally its news outlets and propaganda would reflect its views. For example, racist American anti-German and anti-JP WW2 propaganda, Sino-Soviet red propaganda, 'Nanking didn't happen' textbook whitewashing, Tiananmen square online bans -- what type of propaganda isn't for your own country, and against others? What type of advantage isn't sought after in war or conflict? <<less
4 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
nefird
nefird rated it
June 9, 2021
Status: c422
The story is giving to much information on the psychological reactions of the characters to the point I where I skim or even skip over chapters.

The same issue happens when they show the pov of people other than the MC dealing with ghosts.

How many different ways can the author write about someone being scared or shocked until it becomes boring ? How good can a story be if you have to skip over large chunks of it to keep reading ?

Additional it breaks immersion with 5-6 4th wall breaks in... more>> the first 250 chapters. If they are supposed to add comedy then they fail miserably for me <<less
2 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Pavilion
Pavilion rated it
August 17, 2022
Status: c523
This is a stifling story about an absolutely puny little boy, who like a marionette gets strung wherever his elders and sometimes even completely unrelated people, who should have no kind of authority over him, dictate. The story development is done 100% with plot armor and ret*rdation in guise of brilliantness. It's the classic dumbing down the world to make normal, rational judgement seem 'intellectual'.

Make no mistake, the main character is ABSOLUTELY one of the biggest losers I've ever seen. And how everyone treats him, at one hand dictating about... more>> things he needs to know and is ALLOWED to have knowledge of, and on other hand making him out to be some new revolutionary king everyone is supposed to respect; well this just creates unimaginably annoying cluster f*ck of a person. The most annoying part? How those elders then admonish him for not knowing the thing they were keeping from him.

What's most sad is that the story is actually really well written in some points. It does have proper pacing, characters that are relevant do have depth to them and all around this could of definitely been a top tier story in my books. The translation is very well done as well.

Can you imagine the anger, the frustration you would feel if someone tied you up and had their way with your loved ones while you had to watch? It's that type of feeling the readers get. If you, like me, are one of those people who read by relating to the characters and placing yourself into their shoes you won't like this. And if you do there's absolutely something wrong with you mentally.

To be honest I'm way too much annoyed to continue this review. Should end by saying its well written material for masochists? But then again if you're normal you would most likely find yourself just skipping chapters only to get to know what happens in the end. It's a good bad book, the author has the talent but for some god forsaken reason he chose to use it very wrongly. F*ck him. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Kit1sunii rated it
August 3, 2022
Status: Completed
I'll start with the bad sides:

• It has nationalism and people don't like it. But duh! of course it has nationalism. I mean the MC is literally rebuilding Chinese Underworld to recover its former glory. Which is all written by a Chinese author... I don't get those people who start it with the expectation to not see these stuff.

Don't worry though. The nationalism is quite mild compared to most WNs. It won't ruin the experience.

• The novel has lots of long ass monologues. I wasn't too bothered by this however... more>> from what I've seen, many people couldn't finish the novel because of these huge walls of text.

• The quality of female characters are bad compared to their male counterparts. Surprised? Not really. This is a problem that ever CN has.

Nothing else comes to my mind other than these. Honestly it doesn't even have many cons in the first place.

Anyways as for the good sides:

• The author has clearly done his research. The whole underworld politics and history are already interesting on their own, now add in the detailed world-building and it becomes a really good premise.

• The author references plenty of popular novels, games, pop culture, shows, movies etc. and I've liked that a lot. He also referenced Renegade Immortal at some point, absolutely loved that one lmao.

• The horror is done well. Although we get lesser and lesser horror stuff as we go further into the story, it was quite well written in the earlier chapters.

• I like how the MC goes from a scaredy cat to a dignified ruler. He is immortal and pretty much spent most of his life hiding this secret from public, but when he was given the mission to rebuild Hell, he had to put aside his fear in order to accomplish this task.

He is already a very intelligent person and talented in politics and stuff. He just needed a little push to shine, which is what happened in the later chapters (500+).

Hmm also, I've seen people that hate the MC for being scared of death. Despite being immortal (as in infinite lifespan) he can die but can reincarnate after dying.

Though, I understand the MC, I would be scared too if I lost all of my experiences, my happiest moments etc. upon reincarnation. Memories are important, especially when you will outlive all humanity. I guess you can only cope through memories after you are all alone. Dunno what these readers are on.

TL;DR: The character development is superb.

• The comedy is pretty good, albeit a bit different from the ones we got used to, its still funny.

• Sometimes the plans and schemes of the MC get so hyped up and are actually executed well. All that waiting and stuff are worth it... Heh, especially the characters' reactions... Yup, definitely worth it.

Overall its a very underrated novel, despite its flaws I would expect it to be more popular here. I advise you to read it, you won't regret it. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Dracarya
Dracarya rated it
April 5, 2022
Status: --
I like the MC since he is different from the unicellular brain cell power hungery protags out there. His logical thinking, survival instincts and pragmatic mindset is also a plus. The author tends to over write which sometimes works for the scene but most of the time is just upping the word count.

I am dropping this novel for I agree with the previous comment that said the author doesn't respect female characters. And I have also found Arti annoying on so many occasions like her dialogue and info dump alone... more>> can take up more than half of the chapter. When another female ghost appeared I know this is one of those authors that hates women or just hasn't interacted with them, they just make them annoying and pretty. I look forward to the friends the MC makes but he just ends up screwing them over or ignoring them, so no lasting relationship actually forms and he just mostly talks to himself <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Valixiant
Valixiant rated it
October 30, 2021
Status: c270
I'm going to continue reading this, because theres barely any novels on this site that take themselves seriously enough to create a detailed universe thats both interesting and "realistic". Realistic in terms that in a fantasy world, I can see these things existing.

However, while this novel is good, it possesses a few flaws. First, the more obvious one, is how ridiculously repetitive this novel gets. Not only do they constantly copy and paste sentences to the point where I start questioning whether this was made by AI, but I can't... more>> help but notice that the rising action for virtually every scenario is exactly the same. The rising action in almost every scenario is basically this: A human or group of humans will discover a strong ghost. They will then become super afraid. They will then die. Further along in the novel, that same thing will be repeated, but after a regular human dies, they will show a slightly stronger human fight against said ghost, only to be on the losing side, then die. It wouldn't be terribly bad if they didn't make these situations thousands of words long, every time a strong ghost appears. It's irritating.

On that note, I don't think the problem of being slow is that bad. I enjoy some slow novels, especially when the universe is methodically thought out and interesting. That said, the author seems to have not wanted to use the obvious main character vs weak enemy as filler, and instead draw out the story with sheer repetitiveness. I constantly get waves of deja vu as I read this novel, especially during fight scenes.

Speaking of fight scenes, none of these are done quite that well. While I admit, there are some fight scenes that are fairly good, they all seem like they are missing something. That something would be the main character fighting back. The author doesn't really put out detailed fights whenever the main character is attacking. They will sum up the main characters attack in a few sentences, and it's pretty boring at times. Again, there are some exceptions.

Overall, I'm going to continue reading this simply because it's rare to get this type of story, atleast on this site, but the flaws are glaring enough that they might make me stop in the future. Solid 3/5. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
NightBird68
NightBird68 rated it
June 3, 2021
Status: c1
in all nice idea for novel, but after you read a little you understand that she just empty all story centered around MC, no relationship or side chars, that you may really remember, very boring to read, still pity search something in this genre and was just dissapointed
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Entertainment Seaker
Entertainment Seaker rated it
April 29, 2023
Status: c1
Honestly, I truly didn't know what to expect of this novel and maybe I'm still a bit too young.
The beginning was quite slow and the author's comedy somewhat threw me off at the beginning but I still continued reading. I realised the main character won't be the unparalled type of main character but more of a strategist-like MC, and it's rare I read novels with MCs like these.
The more I read it, the more I liked it. It felt like a lot of genres was in it, though... more>> there were ups and downs. I liked the fact that main character isn't perfect and that he had flaws. And I also have to criticise that the Author was very bold to put in such a sensitive topic in it, I personally think that was ehh...
Overall, it wasn't that bad and it was actually pretty good. It isn't like the usual xianxia novels I read, but it was pretty interesting. Though I don't understand the politics much, and I don't really like the propoganda aspect it was decent enough for me to ignore it.
It was fun, and Qin Ye while not the best main character and sometimes I have an urge to make him shut up, he's alright. <<less
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
miscreant
miscreant rated it
June 11, 2022
Status: Completed
World building is good and comedy works although romance is non existent. Only thing that is a negative is the Chinese Nationalism gets a bit excessive, especially at the end
Spoiler

when they invade japan

[collapse]
.
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.